Tropicana Field sweet home for Rays, the pits for visitors

Welcome to Tropicana Field, the domed home to the team with the best home record in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays, who are also known these days as the American League East champions.

Coincidence? Some say no.

"Players on other teams tell me they hate coming in here to play," said Rays pitcher James Shields, who will start Thursday's Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

There is a white ceiling and catwalks hanging from the white ceiling and wires and speakers and lights hanging from the catwalks that present a covering like no other in the major leagues.

There is the infield that is part FieldTurf, part dirt, and that combination allows ground balls to move quickly toward infielders and take unusual bounces once they reach the dirt. Actually, the balls tend to skid more than bounce.

Rays outfielder Eric Hinske recalled his first impressions of the Trop when he was a rookie with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002.

"The infield stinks, the ceiling is white, and there were two people in the stands," Hinske said.

Rays manager Joe Maddon lovingly calls the Trop, "The Pit." It's been his goal since he took over the Rays before the 2006 season to turn "The Pit" into the best homefield advantage in baseball.

It took two seasons, but here they are.

The Rays won 54 of the 78 games played at the Trop this season (three home games were played at Disney's Wide World of Sport). That's a .692 winning percentage, the best in the majors and a stark improvement over the combined winning percentage of the first 10 seasons, which was .399.

It's because of this year's home record, and because the Rays won 21 of 23 games when the Trop drew a crowd of 30,000 or more, that the Rays desperately wanted to win the division and gain homefield advantage at least in the first round of the playoffs.

"We are well aware of what our record is at home and what it is in front of the big crowds," first baseman Carlos Pena said.

Big crowds fill the Trop with deafening noise. Think Florida Field when the Gators are playing Tennessee or Florida State.

"The most pleasurable moment this year was when we could not get Evan Longoria to move in at third base because he couldn't hear us," Maddon said.

There are other quirks that can offer the Rays an advantage.

The roof keeps out the rain and heat. It also keeps out the sun.

"I think the no sunshine gets to (visiting teams)," pitcher J.P. Howell said. "It makes them depressed; a little negative. They get frustrated a little quicker. The first month I was with the team I hated it. I knew I wouldn't see the sunshine after two o'clock."

Baseball, Howell pointed out, is a game meant to be played outside in the sun.

"I got over it," Howell said. "I love it now."

Most baseball stadiums offer some sort of advantage for the home team. Fenway Park has the Green Monster, the 37-foot tall wall in left field. Wrigley Field has the ivy-covered outfield walls and a home schedule filled with day games. Yankee Stadium had its ghosts.

The Trop has the catwalks, which are in play. Hit the bottom two in fair territory and it's a home run. Hit the top two in fair territory and take as many bases as you can get.

"You never think about balls ricocheting off catwalks," Rays outfielder Gabe Gross said. "It brings something different to the game. But you don't think you'd have a chance of running into a flag pole in center field in Houston, either, but you do. It's just part of the game."

But how much a part of the game?

Opposing teams did pretty well during the first 10 years, winning at more than a .600 clip.

"When I came in here with another team I enjoyed playing at the Trop," Pena said. "It wasn't something I was afraid of. I didn't think that ever. But I might be crazy. I might not be the norm."

He isn't.

Pena usually gets an earful from opposing players when they reach first base.

If the Trop offered any real advantage, wouldn't it have appeared during the first 10 years? And if it did offer an advantage during the first decade, how bad would things have been had the Rays played in another stadium?

That's a scary thought.

But the Trop has been unkind to visitors this season - the Boston Red Sox won once in nine games - and awfully kind to the Rays.

Why the drastic turnaround?

"I just think the bottom line is we're a better team now," Hinske said. "So that's why it's a homefield advantage."

Trop by the numbers

.399: Rays' winning percentage at Tropicana Field in their first 10 years.